President Uhuru Kenyatta’s anti-graft war could claim the chiefs of government agencies and lucrative state parastatals riddled with multi-billion scandals.
The scams — ranging from blatant flouting of procurement regulations and public finance management laws to outright theft of public funds — could come to haunt the bosses as the purge gains tempo.
The public institutions in the spotlight are also battling the ghosts of corruption scandals through which unscrupulous businessmen and connected individuals have siphoned billions from the public coffers.
They cannot account for billions of shillings, the Auditor General has said.
Some of the entities are undertaking multi-billion-shilling projects whose costs are reportedly highly inflated to accommodate kickbacks in tenders skewed to favour companies with political connections.
The public entities in focus include the state pensioner National Social Security Fund, Kenya Pipeline,National Cereals and Produce Board, Geothermal Development Company, Kenya Power, Kengen and the Kenya Airports Authority, among others.
Probes underway include the Sh6.8 billion Hazina Towers project with inflated construction costs, the Sh55.6 billion irregular tendering for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport's new terminal through the Kenya Airports Authority and the Sh15 billion police CCTV system.
Both Parliament — the custodian of the public interest — and Auditor General Edward Ouko have raised the red flag on blatant embezzlement.
Top executives in plum state agencies could find themselves on the receiving end as the state tightens the noose on suspects.
Jitters have already gripped some CEOs and top managers of the corporations hit by waves of scandals.
Over the years, Ouko has questioned state corporations, even pointing out where money has been lost in some instances, but little or no action has been taken on his annual reports.
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The Kenya Airports Authority, for instance, has been put on the spot for paying a contractor Sh4.3 billion as part payment for a new terminal at JKIA.
The KAA had planned to construct a new Sh65 billion terminal with capacity to host 8.7 million passengers annually.
In his 2015-2016 audit report on the airline industry regulator, Ouko says there was no evidence of any work done despite the payment to Chinese firms ACEG and CATIC.
Another Sh129.9 million was paid to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The firm was hired to provide consultancy on borrowing for the project.
Ouko has also pointed out that several parcels of land owned by the KAA have landed in the hands of private firms under unclear circumstances.
The airports authority was also unable to explain slow movement and missing progress reports for the Sh399 million rehabilitation work on the Nanyuki Airstrip.
Transglobal Cargo Centre, a logistics firm associated with billionaire businessman Peter Muthoka, somehow used land owned by the KAA as security for a Sh510 million loan.
Detectives are already probing details of massive corruption amounting to over Sh90 billion at the giant Kenya Pipeline.
The procurement-driven stealing at KPC is ten times that of the NYS in which taxpayers were swindled.
Taxpayers risk losing billions at the NSSF through the Hazina Towers, Nyayo Estate and Tassia projects that have stalled due to various changes to their original plans.
NSSF has resolved to scale down the Hazina Towers project from 36 storeys to only 15 but has failed to alter the contractual sum of Sh6.7 billion that had been budgeted for the project.
Last month the National Assembly Public Investments Committee asked NSSF to stop construction of the Hazina Trade Centre Tower as investigations continue.
This is after NSSF acting director Anthony Omerikwa told the committee chaired by Abdulswamad Nassir (Mvita MP) that the project had been scaled down.
"That you have scaled down the project from 36 to 15 floors at the same contract sum of Sh6.7 billion is shocking. What are the reasons for the scaling down of the project that the board approved for 36 storeys?" Nassir told Omerikwa when NSSF appeared before PIC.
At the NSSF, questions have been raised over Sh239 million in pending rent arrears for a building owned by the pension scheme, dating back to 1994.
Hazina Towers was leased to Azania Hotels in November 1994. NSSF took back possession after Azania failed to offset rent arrears.
The Auditor General in his latest report says NSSF has not taken any action to recover Sh239 million owed by Azania.
The NSSF bought the building for Sh450 million in 1994.
Ouko adds that the pension scheme has been complicit in following up on a half-acre piece parcel in Upper Hill valued at Sh115 million, after it was irregularly transferred to the Judiciary.
The NSSF paid Sh20 million for the prime land in 1996.
The Geothermal Development Company has also been flagged over a possible loss of as much as Sh3.3 billion.
Ouko says he was unable to ascertain how exposed the public is following a claim by a firm that wants Sh3.3 billion for termination of its contract to move oil rigs.
GDC had claimed that it terminated the contract following investigations into the deal by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission. The firm was to move the rigs for Sh1.7 billion.
The Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, according to the Auditor General, hired twice the number of workers it is authorised to have, a move that cost taxpayers Sh657 million.
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Kemsa also purchased expired drugs worth Sh350 million between 2014 and 2016.
The state corporation also failed to adequately explain why it has failed to collect Sh3.4 billion from the national and county governments for drug supplies.
Amid fears that the purge in public service could soon zero in on big state corporations, politicians have urged for caution.
National Assembly Minority leader John Mbadi yesterday cautioned the government against what he termed an attempt to “scandalise the procurement and accounting professions”.
The Suba South MP, while lauding the President’s bold move to tackle corruption, warned that is approach could be a double-edged sword, even as he said sending officials home was an act of desperation in fight against graft.
"We are in a situation where we were losing this country to looters. Every action must be supported but we must make sure everything we do respects the fair administrative of justice," he said.
He added, "It is true the two departments are responsible for the mess but we must not pass a judgement because some of the officers could be earning an honest living."
Kisumu Central MP Fred Ouda warned that government services could be paralysed, with other officers likely to operate in fear.
"It is a good idea but it should be done in piecemeal from one agency to the other, with humanity, because not all staff are corrupt," he said.
Yesterday the International Centre for Policy and Conflict accused the President of playing to the gallery by issuing executive orders that violate the Constitution.
The body asked affected officers to seek a judicial review to overturn the President’s directive.
"What the President did is unconstitutional. Civil servants are protected by the law. You can’t intimidate or victimise them," said ICPC executive director Ndung’u Wainaina.
He said the Constitution gives the Public Service Commission the mandate to hire, discipline or sack public servants.
"The President can’t sack procurement and accounting officers in the public service through an executive order —that is the prerogative of the PSC," Wainaina told the Star.
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